IT NEWS

More and more Americans have been falling victim to phone scams since 2019. According to the latest report from Truecaller (Google Docs upload of the entire report, separate blog here), a known spam blocker and caller ID app, 68.4 million Americans were victimized in the last 12 months, a substantial increase from the 59.4 million victims tallied up in 2021.

Collectively, victims lost a staggering $39.5 billion, a 32.5 percent increase from the previous year. In the report, Truecaller compared this amount to the budget specifically set aside in the American Rescue Plan Act—already a wide-ranging package of $1.9 billion—for child care services, a figure approaching some $39 billion.

“The total money lost to scams is also comparable to the entire child care budget of $39 billion for the American Rescue Plan Act. If phone scam fraud was somehow eliminated, the amount saved could fund federally subsidized child care across the U.S. for a full year to help families and employers.”

Truecaller Insights 2022 US Spam and Scam Report

This increase in victims directly correlates with the increased number of scam calls received by Americans. More than half of these scam calls (61.1 percent) came from robocallers. This could mean two things: scammers have found a way to beat the framework, or the STIR/SHAKEN program is just not that effective.

STIR (Secure Telephone Identity Revisited) and SHAKEN (Signature-based Handling of Asserted information using toKENs) is an Federal Trade Commission (FCC) framework that “digitally validates the handoff of phone calls passing through the complex web of networks, allowing the phone company of the consumer receiving the call to verify that a call is in fact from the number displayed on Caller ID.” This framework was fully implemented on June 30, 2021.

A change in attitude towards phone calls

Truecaller has noted Americans’ change in preference when it comes to communication. Robocalls and spam calls have created “an environment of great distrust” regarding phone calls, the report said. As such, 60 percent of Americans have preferred communicating with people via other means, such as text, email, and social media.

Unfortunately, this learned habit of avoiding calls from unknown numbers has other side effects. According to the Truecaller report, because Americans attempt to avoid phone calls from numbers they don’t recognize, 63 percent also feel like they missed important calls. On top of that, people find it more difficult than ever to reach anyone via a phone call because calls are often ignored just to avoid spam.

Despite this, robocall scams persist, emphasizing the scale and severity of the problem.

The post More than a quarter of Americans fell for robocall scam calls in past year appeared first on Malwarebytes Labs.

1977 was quite the year. Led Zeppelin! Jimmy Carter! Saturday Night Fever!

We can now add “a ransomware attack” to this once static list. Somerset County, New Jersey, has been hit so hard by a network assault that they’ve ended up in the direst straits imaginable, with county databases unavailable to provide information on land records and probate records, and with title searches only available for paper records that were entered before 1977.

When a ransomware attack takes out an organization, they often revert to pen and paper to keep things ticking over. This is a common feature of healthcare compromises. Everything slows down a little, but they’re still able to function in the here and now for the most part. When ransomware locks down a chunk of historical data, things apparently become much more convoluted.

Of probates and land records

Somerset County’s statement reads as follows in relation to the attack which happened last Tuesday:

Somerset County offices and buildings remain open for business as the County continues to evaluate the severity of yesterday’s ransomware cyberattack. Network-linked computers remain turned off, and county emails cannot be received or responded to by county personnel.

Somerset County Clerk and Surrogate services that depend on access to county databases are temporarily unavailable, such as land records, vital statistics, and probate records. Title searches are possible only on paper records dated before 1977.

There’s several possibilities as to why everything post 1977 is now unavailable. Perhaps records after that date have all made the leap to digital status only, with no backups available. Maybe there are backups, but those have been encrypted by ransomware too.

Switching to Plan B

In an effort to keep some services moving, temporary email addresses have been brought into play:

To ensure residents can reach the County we have created temporary Gmail addresses for the public to use to reach critical departments such as the County Commissioners, Health, Emergency Operations, the County Clerk, Sheriff, and Surrogate.

This is certainly better than doing nothing. However, there are several concerns with approaches such as this.

• Are the email addresses secure? Hopefully “temporary” would still mean “locked down.” At the very least, 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) is needed here. The last thing they need is several email breaches due to weak passwords or other security concerns.
• Introducing uncertainty into what official email addresses are supposed to look like can confuse customers. A wily phisher could easily set up their own fake temporary addresses. An even smarter one would create fake Gmail addresses which look like the temporary efforts.

Good news and bad news…

Somerset County have confirmed the following:

• An upcoming Primary Election is unaffected as voting machines are “never connected to the county system.”
• Courts and Jails are functioning as normal and 911/emergency services are unaffected.
• According to The Register, systems may be offline for “at least” the rest of this week. This isn’t great, but the ad-hoc replacement system offered currently is better than nothing.

Tips to avoid ransomware

• Encrypt and back up your data. Keep your data encrypted whenever possible, and back up your files regularly. Store your backups externally away from the main network. Ensure your backups are stored in a logical way and not a confused mess of folders and files. You can’t get to work on recovery if you’ve no idea where everything is.
• Update your security software. Help what is often your first line of defense by ensuring it’s as up to date as possible. Automate your scans and updates.
• Avoid strange attachments. Malicious Word/Excel documents are a common threat, especially where Macros are concerned.
• Keep devices updated. Secure devices with the latest patches. Updating your Operating System is great, but that’s not where your updating journey ends. Outdated software and applications are frequently a launchpad for exploits leading to ransomware attacks.
• Strengthen remote access. Unsecured remote services are hugely popular with ransomware authors. Provide a limit on password guess attempts for remote desktops. You can also combine remote services with multifactor authentication.
• Use browser controls for bad ads. Malvertising is another technique to place ransomware where it shouldn’t be. Restricting certain features like JavaScript can help, though this may make some sites unusable. Dedicated extensions which control tracking, scripts, and untrustworthy ad networks will also help.

The post Ransomware attack turns 2022 into 1977 for Somerset County appeared first on Malwarebytes Labs.

Today we took a look at a phishing mail pinning its hopes on a QR code linking to a bogus website. Scammers claim that your mail address has “not been registered for the 3D Secure Security Update”.

The mail reads as follows:

Dear Sir / Madam,

Our administration has shown that the data linked to this email address: {redacted} has not yet been registered for the 3D Secure security update. From May 30, 2022, the new security system has come into effect.
We therefore request that you activate the 3D Secure security.

Scan the QR code below with the camera of your smartphone to be redirected to the security form.

You can then use the new 3D Secure password for online payments with your credit card.

For even more payment convenience, you can download the ICS App. You can then approve your online payments via the app and no longer have to remember a password.

We wish you a lot of ease of payment with your Card!

What is 3D Secure?

3D Secure is an additional layer of security for online payments. The name “3D Secure” refers to the 3 domains which interact whenever you make use of the protocol: Merchant, issuer, interoperability domain. 3DS2 is due to replace 3DS sometime in 2022 as the original is slowly phased out.

Encouraging potential victims to strengthen their security by inadvertently walking into a trap is a common tactic. Tying it in with 3D Secure is arguably more original than most, especially as it’s perhaps a bit of a niche aspect of secure payments. Perhaps confusing victims with some very specific technobabble is the point.

The rogue website

Victims arrive on the site via a redirect URL.

The site emulates a well known organisation which issues credit cards in the Netherlands. It asks for name, date of birth, postcode and house number, mobile, and email.

After this, victims arrive on a “please wait while we check your details” notification. The details entered have already been sent, and they’ll be waiting on that page for a very long time. Curiously, no request for card details is made. We suspect whoever runs the site will follow up by mail or phone and finish the scam off by asking for payment information.

The QR Code factor

Quick Response (QR) code scams come around every so often. Sometimes rogue codes are pasted over, or close to, genuine codes. Other times, codes are tampered with. They’re also a feature of Bitcoin ATM scams.

Where phishing is concerned, it’s important to not misunderstand how these attacks work and cause unnecessary panic. Most QR code scanners on mobile devices will show you a preview of the URL you’re about to visit, so it boils down to being able to recognise the signs of a dubious URL, just as it would if the attackers had incldued a link. (This is probably why the attack used a redirect.)

As a result, best practices for regular phishing attacks still apply.

The post Phishing mail claims a 3D Secure upgrade is required appeared first on Malwarebytes Labs.

If you’re an SMB, chances are that you’re already well-aware of the fact that cyber threats can wreak havoc on your business. 

Everything from rootkits to ransomware threaten not just financial losses, but also significant network downtime and reputational damage as well. Couple this with the fact that many cyberthreats are web-based, and you might be stuck wondering how best to secure your business online. 

That’s where DNS filtering comes in. 

But first, DNS in a nutshell. So normally, every time your customer types in your web address, their computer makes a request to a DNS server. The DNS server, in turn, tells the computer where to go. If all goes well, then voila, your customer is at your website. 

A DNS filter stops you from accessing unsafe websites—including those posing a strong malware risk. But which web-based cyberthreats in particular does DNS filtering stop, you ask? 

In this post, we’ll break down three ways DNS filtering can help save your business from cyberattacks. 

1. Blocks phishing websites

Let’s say someone at your company gets an email from their “bank” asking them to update their password.  

Not knowing it’s a fake, this employee clicks a link taking them to a malicious website that looks exactly like the original. Your employee then fills in some  sensitive info, maybe even downloads a malicious file — and bam, just like that, criminals now have access to your network, allowing them to install malware, steal data and spread ransomware. 

You might recognize this as one example of phishing, an attack where cybercriminals trick potential victims into sharing sensitive information or giving the perpetrator privileged access to a network. 

Luckily, by blocking the domain names of phishing sites, a DNS filter can nip attacks in the bud. 

Here’s how it works: DNS filtering references databases of known nefarious domain names. Databases of malicious websites can also be sorted into threat categories, such as spyware, typosquatting, cryptomining, and so on. From there, your organization can block malicious sites like these sites to secure their environment against phishing attacks.  

In other words, if you have a DNS filter, as soon as that same employee clicks a link to a malicious website —they’re prevented from visiting it. 

2. Secures you against machine-in-the-middle attacks 

Imagine you’re at a cafe chatting with a trusted friend, sharing private details about your lives with one another. You probably wouldn’t appreciate it if some random stranger was tuning into the conversation, listening carefully to every word. 

Such a scenario roughly analogous to what a machine-in-the-middle attack (MITM, also referred to as a man-in-the-middle attack) is — except in a MITM attack, the stakes are much higher. Cybercriminals in MITM attacks can steal your personal information, passwords, or banking details by intercepting the data sent between you and an application.  

One type of man-in-the-middle attack businesses should worry about is DNS spoofing. 

In a DNS spoofing attack, a hacker sits in the middle of this process. So when the computer of that same customer makes a request to a DNS server, asking where your website is, a hacker can instead redirect your computer to a malicious website! 

From there, hackers can phish sensitive customer or business information — as described above. These types of attacks are where DNS encryption, included in any good DNS filter, is essential. It secures the connection between your computer and the DNS resolver, so that cybercriminals not sit between you and and feed you spoofed DNS entries.

3. Detects potential DDoS attacks 

The last thing any business wants is to suffer from a Distributed Denial of Service (DDos) attack. 

You can think of a DDos attack as being kind of like a zombie invasion. Using an army of bots called a botnet, a cybercriminal can use thousands or even millions of “zombie” computers to flood your website, ultimately overloading it and bringing it down. 

The end result? Brand damage, angry customers — and often even lost revenue. 

One type of DDos attack is called a DNS flood, where the cybercriminal uses their army of bots to overwhelm a DNS server and prevent it from directing legitimate requests to your website. 

And, as is the case with most cyberthreats, the earlier you spot a potential DNS DDos attack, the better. Being able to continuously monitor DNS activity is a great way to catch the warning signs of a DNS DDoS attack — and with a DNS filter, you can do exactly that. 

Protect your end users and your organization from web-based threats 

The web is full of dangerous corners.  

It’s a breeding ground for phishing attacks, spyware, common viruses and malware, not to mention ransomware. And as these attacks continue to increase in frequency and sophistication, it’s never been more important for SMBs to secure themselves online.  

But while having a DNS filter is great way to do that, many small and mid-size organizations don’t invest in one — leaving them exposed. 

The Malwarebytes DNS Filtering module for the Nebula platform helps block access to malicious websites and limit threats introduced by suspicious content. It blocks phishing sites, encrypts all DNS requests, and tracks website traffic to detect potential DDoS attacks. 

To top it all off, Malwarebytes DNS Filtering controls are available in the same platform used for powerful threat prevention and trusted remediation — including our Incident Response, Endpoint Protection, and Endpoint Detection and Response offerings. 

The post 3 ways DNS filtering can save SMBs from cyberattacks appeared first on Malwarebytes Labs.

German ISPs are considering the introduction of TrustPid, a new type of “supercookie” that comprises of a unique identifier which will be issued for each customer that will be able to track what that customer is doing online.

The providers are trying to sell this idea by telling the public that the identifier can never be tracked back to an individual and that something needs to be done to keep the internet free.

The end of the tracking cookie

Where does this attempt come from, you may ask. Advertisers are seeing the end of the tracking cookie on the horizon and it’s coming closer.

Google has announced that it will stop the use of third-party cookies in Chrome by the end of 2023, joining a growing list of browsers that are saying farewell to the tracking cookies. And Apple already blocks default tracking everywhere.

Social media and tech giants, including Google, are already looking at other business models to replace tracking cookies since they are the ones that benefited the most from targeted advertising, by providing the most useful information to the advertisers.

What makes supercookies different is that they are unique identifiers that are inserted into the HTTP header by a service provider. Unlike normal cookies they do not get stored in browsers or browser plug-ins.

Free internet

The idea of a free internet—as communicated by some of these companies—is not that they are signing you up as a customer free of charge. Wouldn’t that be nice? No, the idea is that websites that are providing content need to make a living. And the usual income for most of those sites comes from advertising. Why the ISP providers feel that it is part of their job description to enable targeted advertising escapes me. But undoubtedly the goal is to improve the bottom line.

Targeted advertising is more rewarding than regular advertising since it supposedly enormously enhances the effect of the advertisement. At least, that’s the idea that most advertisers live by, and sell to their customers. But here’s something to consider: According to research by Cloudflare, 20 percent of websites that serve ads receive visits almost exclusively by fraudulent click bots, and that bots comprise roughly 50 percent of all Internet traffic. Imagine how much money advertisers could save by effectively tackling ad fraud. Plus, that sounds a lot better than tagging another tracker on us.

Hiding consent

The worst bit of your ISP enabling the tracking is that every user has to sign some sort of agreement with them. In this agreement the ISP can hide the TrustPid consent in a long End-user License Agreement (EULA) that almost no-one ever reads and which can probably not be declined partially. It’s all or nothing if you want or need this provider. And if one provider successfully monetizes this idea, I’m afraid others will quickly follow suite.

Another advantage of an ISP is that they know if and when the IP of your home connection changes and for mobile devices they can even enumerate the users within a household by identifying the individual devices.

History

The idea of ISPs issuing supercookies is certainly not new. Verizon was the example that should have served as a history lesson here. In 2016, Verizon had to settle with the FCC over its use of a supercookie, which tracked the websites visited by phones on its network. They were fined because they forgot to inform the customers or give them an opt-out option. Verizon had to pay a fine of $1.35 million and was ordered to receive customer permission before sharing tracking data with other companies or even within its own organization.

How it works

The network provider will first combine your mobile number and IP address to generate a pseudonymous network identifier, after which using that identifier they will generate a pseudonymous unique token (TrustPid).

This TrustPid is used to create additional marketing tokens for the websites of advertisers and publishers you visit (website specific tokens). Advertisers and publishers aren’t (shouldn’t be) able to identify you as a person via the website specific tokens.

Where you have given consent, advertisers and publishers will use the website specific tokens to provide you with targeted online marketing, or conduct analytics. The advertisers and publishers that you’ve consented to could be drawn up in a list that will be in the hands of the ISP, but you can manage your consent for those parties at any time via the Privacy Portal.

I inserted the “shouldn’t be” since we are all too aware that many good intentions have unexpected consequences. Let’s suppose that you fill out your details on one of the websites that you decided to trust. Introduce one XSS vulnerability and all your personal details could be linked back to your TrustPid.

Mitigation

Because of the lack of technical details provided about TrustPid, we are not completely clear how a user can avoid being tracked. But I asked German privacy expert Andreas Dewes and he responded:

“a device level VPN with integrated DNS should be able to block this kind of tracking.”

Once we know more, there might be easier and simpler ways to get around this. We’ll keep you posted.

The post TrustPid is another worrying, imperfect attempt to replace tracking cookies appeared first on Malwarebytes Labs.

The FBI is warning academics to be on their guard, as an embattled education sector continues to experience attacks and breaches, with data spilling onto the so-called dark web. The government agency’s Private Industry Notification [PDF] cites US academic credentials up for grabs from a variety of sources.

A stepping stone to compromise

From the summary:

The FBI is informing academic partners of identified US college and university credentials advertised for sale on online criminal marketplaces and publicly accessible forums. This exposure of sensitive credential and network access information, especially privileged user accounts, could lead to subsequent cyber attacks against individual users or affiliated organizations.

Data for sale is not unusual. Phishing, social engineering, and credential stuffing are often the end result. Dumps of education/university data can offer specific in-roads into campus networks, or further harvesting of student and employee credentials or personal information. Additionally, the FBI warns:

If attackers are successful in compromising a victim account, they may attempt to drain the account of stored value, leverage or re-sell credit card numbers and other personally identifiable information, submit fraudulent transactions, exploit for other criminal activity against the account holder, or use for subsequent attacks against affiliated organizations.

A wide range of data possibilities

Private sites and regular forums aren’t the only cause for concern. The FBI also observed data sitting on instant messaging platforms too. Some of their findings:

• Late 2020: 2,000 unique username/password .edu combinations were up for sale on the dark web. Payment for this was made via donations to an unspecified Bitcoin wallet.
• May 2021: Over 36,000 email/password combinations for .edu addresses were observed on a “publicly available instant messaging platform.” This apparently fed into other unnamed illegal activities.
• January 2022: “Russian cyber criminal forums” were offering network and VPN credentials, both for sale or free to access. Screenshots showing the attacker’s proof of access is common on portals such as this. Prices of stolen accounts ranged from “a few to multiple thousands of US dollars.”

Keeping the education sector safe: an uphill struggle

This warning comes at a time of sustained cyber attacks in and around education. Last year, the FBI warned of an increase in ransomware targeting institutions. Sure enough, in 2022 we’ve seen colleges close down and data lost. There’s also constant concerns over cyber security funding to contend with.

The FBI recommends colleges, universities, and other academic entities establish and maintain strong relationships with the FBI field office in their region, along with observing the various mitigation strategies in their notification alert. We expect to see more data dumps and breaches over the coming months, but hopefully careful observation of security procedures and mitigations will make a dent in some criminal’s plans.

Tips from the FBI

• Keep operating systems up to date, and patch in a timely fashion. Beware of End of Life (EOL) support for systems and applications.
• Implement user training to reduce the risk of phishing and social engineering.
• Use strong passwords, avoid password reuse, and establish lock-out rules for incorrect attempts.
• Encourage the use of multifactor authentication (MFA) for as many services as possible, including webmail, VPN, and critical systems.
• Reduce credential exposure by restricting where accounts can be used alongside local device credential protection features.
• Segment networks to help prevent spread of malware and unauthorized access.
• Automate security scanning, and use monitoring tools to help identify network abnormalities and compromise attempts.
• Secure and closely monitor remote desktop protocol (RDP) use, alongside restricting login attempts and using additional authentication measures for logging in remotely.

The post FBI warns of education sector credentials on dark web forums appeared first on Malwarebytes Labs.

A Runescape-themed missive landed in our email inbox today, claiming action is required to secure our account.

The malicious email and the scam behind it are perfect examples of one of the more reliable tactics in the world of phishing—fooling a victim into thinking they need to take some action as part of a larger, ongoing process. With this tactic, phishing email recipients could ask themselves: Is this a mis-sent mail? Should I jump in halfway through whatever’s being proposed and course correct? Will I be sent additional worrying emails if I don’t?

As bait, it’s perfect.

The scam

This email is being fired out to random addresses; it’s not a targeted attack. The phisher is simply hoping that of all the recipients, a few have an account with the service they’re imitating. In this case, the mail is spoofing players of Runescape, the popular free MMORPG title from Jagex. It reads as follows:

YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
HAS BEEN CHANGED

You have successfully changed the registered email address for your RuneScape and Old School RuneScape account.

Your account log-in details remain unchanged but your registered email address for all future password resets will be: [email removed]

To cancel this change, please click on the button below.

CANCEL CHANGE

Button not working for you? Copy the URL below into your browser:

Recipients may panic that their address has been accidentally added to someone else’s account and want to fix it as soon as possible. Alternatively, they may actually have a Runescape account and worry at the sight of seeing an unfamiliar email address as the “new” address for the account. Either way, people will click the link to see what this is all about.

The scam site

The site claims to be Old School Runescape, making use of a URL similar to the real thing. It asks visitors for a variety of data. First up is email / username and password.

Secondly, it asks for the visitor’s authenticator code. Lastly, the site asks for their bank PIN.

In Runescape, the “bank” is where the player stores their items. Someone with access to all of this can perform a fairly comprehensive clean-out of the victim’s account.

Discordant behaviour

The manner of sending the victim’s information is quite interesting. Looking at the code on the final submission page reveals the following reference to Discord:

This is a technique where JavaScript is used to send automated messages to Bots in Discord channels via Webhooks. The email, password, authenticator code, and bank PIN will in theory all be posted to whichever channel the Bot resides. From there, people may be sitting waiting for new messages to pop up and then steal the account manually before the authentication codes expire.

Avoiding Runescape phishing attempts

Runescape has plentiful support guides to help steer players away from harm. A list of the most popular scam attempts can be found on their forum. Note that “Your email address has been changed” is listed, along with the following explainer:

Note how a phishing email says the change will be made unless you click something. If someone tries to change your email, Jagex will send an email to confirm the change before any changes are made. No changes are made if you don’t confirm it.

There’s also a dedicated phishing report centre, and several support articles which cover:

• Suspicious emails
• Fake websites
• Staff impersonation

For a more detailed dive into phishing and tips for avoiding all manner of phish attack techniques, read our in-depth guide.

The post Runescape phish claims your email has been changed appeared first on Malwarebytes Labs.

Cybersecurity is an industry known for many hats: white hats, black hats, and grey hats. White hats refer to “the good people” in the industry for those who are not in the know. They are malware analysts, security researchers, and penetration testers. Black hats are the opposite of white hats, and we collectively refer to them as cybercriminals.

The existence of a third hat is intriguing but not surprising. It denotes black hats have the potential to be and do good. On the other hand, white hats can put one foot on the dark side while leaving a reassuring foot in the light.

Security researchers have speculated that a new extortion group called RansomHouse is a collection of “frustrated” white hats who have collectively been pushed to the point of punishing organizations that continue to have lax security in their infrastructure.

RansomHouse 101

RansomHouse is a new extortion group that gets into victims’ networks by exploiting vulnerabilities to steal data and coerces victims to pay up, lest their data is sold to the highest bidder. And if no criminal is interested in buying the data, the group leaks it on their leak site.

This group is also unique in the way it extorts money from victims. They appear to market themselves as penetration testers and bug bounty hunters more than your average online extortionist. After stealing data from targets, they offer to delete it and then provide a full report on what vulnerabilities they exploited and how.

Like ransomware groups, they also have channels in place—a Telegram account and a leak site—to communicate with victims, journalists, and those who want to track their activities.

RansomHouse is believed to have emerged in December 2021 and currently has four victims, the first of which was Canada’s Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority (SLGA), a regulator of alcohol, cannabis, and most gambling in the province, which first reported a breach in that same month and year.

According to the “About” page on RansomHouse’s Onion site, they call themselves “a professional mediators community.”

Below are reprints of sections from that page:

We have nothing to do with any breaches and don't produce or use any ransomware. Our primary goal is to minimize the damage that might be sustained by related parties.

We believe that the culprits are not the ones who found the vulnerability or carried out the hack, but those who did not take proper care of security. The culprits are those who did not put a lock on the door leaving it wide open inviting everyone in.

But evolution cannot be stopped, fitting structures emerge in every environment, and so groups of enthusiasts have emerged on the grounds of data negligence, eager to get paid honestly by streamlining this chaos through public punishment. These methods of making money and pointing out companies' mistakes may be controversial, and when you recall that we are talking about billion-dollar corporations on the opposing side, it becomes clear why the RansomHouse team is so important to engage in dialogue. That is what this project is all about - bringing conflicting parties together, helping them to set up a dialogue and make informed, balanced decisions. The team works hard to find a way out of even the most difficult situations and allow both parties to go forward without changing rules as they go along. Incompetence and fuss is unacceptable when dealing with such cases, which is exactly what happens most often. Here and now we are creating a new culture and streamlining this industry.

The “About” page, which reads more like a manifesto, is telling. First, it openly declares that organizations, not the cybercriminals after their data, are the real “culprits” for certain types of cyberattacks. Second, the bug hunters who find flaws in systems or networks owned by organizations, which may not have a bounty program in place, must be recognized for the time and effort to find these flaws and be compensated appropriately.

Cyberint’s Shmuel Gihon indicated that RansomHouse is “practically forcing ‘penetration testing service’ on organizations that never used their services or rewarded bug bounties.”

Lastly, the group puts itself at the center as an entity that’ll make things right, calling this entire endeavor a “project” instead of what it really is: an extortion scheme with the facade of a good samaritan. The group’s actions benefit no one but them and their associates, embolden others to act out their frustration, and—if they are indeed white hats in a midlife crisis—slowly erode the foundations of trust and integrity the cybersecurity industry stands on.

Links with ransomware groups

RansomHouse has been firm about its non-use of ransomware in its exploits despite the group’s name. They also reportedly do not encrypt files they stole from organizations. However, it is worth noting that the group has a history of collaborating with ransomware gangs, such as White Rabbit.

BleepingComputer pointed out the group was mentioned in one of White Rabbit’s ransom notes.

One can also see RansomHouse’s possible link to the Hive ransomware group.

Hagar Margolin, cyberanalyst for Webz.io, a company providing machine-defined web data, pointed out the uncanny similarities of Hive’s leak site post to that of RansomHouse’s.

Are they really disgruntled bug bounty hunters?

Bug hunting could be a way of living. Much like many of the jobs within the cybersecurity industry, it’s not as glamorous as some people make it.

Of course, getting rich hunting for inherent flaws would depend on the severity of the bug found and the availability of a bounty program in an organization. Bug hunting wouldn’t be as lucrative if one or both of these aren’t fully satisfied.

Gihon assessed that RansomHouse “might have a blue and red team background and might even be disgruntled bug bounty hunters looking to be taken more seriously by organizations.” In cybersecurity, a “blue team” plays the role of Defender in a cyberattack. In contrast, a “red team” plays the role of Adversary.

What led Cyberint to this theory is RansomHouse’s overall professional demeanor when communicating with others. They were seen as polite and focused, not easily swayed away into irrelevant conversations. The group also claimed they’re “pro-freedom,” “very liberal,” and won’t have anything to do with radical hacktivists or espionage groups.

Cyberint also touched on a known problem within the bug bounty community that is currently brewing.

“Many of the bug bounty hunter community members have been complaining for some time now about companies that do not want to pay the bounty for their hard labour while still enjoying its fruits,” Gihon said. “Bug bounty programs also increase their commissions making the bug bounty hunter a very frustrating profession.”

The struggles with bug hunting may be real, but according to one expert, even calling RansomHouse a group of bug hunters could be inaccurate.

In an interview with BleepingComputer, Emsisoft Threat Analyst Brett Callow said that actors behind the White Rabbit ransomware may be behind RansomHouse:

“The RansomHouse platform is supposedly used by ‘club members’ who carry out attacks using their own tools—and, according to them, those tools include ransomware such as White Rabbit. I suspect, however, that their claims are untrue and that the same individuals who carry out the attacks are also behind RansomHouse.”

Regardless of the group’s origins, one thing is clear: they are going after organizations that they have decided are not doing enough to secure their clients’ data. They pose a threat similar to ransomware groups. This should be enough reason for organizations of any size to work with their IT teams in strengthening the business’s overall security posture.

The post Threat profile: RansomHouse makes extortion work without ransomware appeared first on Malwarebytes Labs.

“Beam me up Scotty” will always remain my first association with teleportation. And as it stands now, we are still a long way from teleporting matter, but the teleportation of information has recently made a huge step forward. Researchers in Delft say they have succeeded in teleporting quantum information across a rudimentary network.

This teleportation technology will not enable us to send information to any “out of this world” destinations, but it could allow us to send information to parts of this world instantly.

The scientists have demonstrated the immediate transfer of one bit of information. This means the information does not travel along a path, so it cannot be intercepted. This is just a small step on a very long journey, but if we follow the journey all the way to the end the implications for the future of the Internet and secure communication are enormous.

One bit

Quantum computing harnesses the laws of quantum mechanics to solve problems too complex for classical computers.

In quantum computing the basic unit of information is the quantum bit, or qubit. A qubit is different from the binary bits most current computers are based on—binary bits have two states: 0 and 1, while qubits have three states: The 0 and 1 that binary bits have, and a state that will return TRUE for both 0 and 1. You could say the third state is both 0 and 1 at the same time.

Quantum networking uses quantum mechanics to “teleport” qubits of information between the quantum computers on the network instantly and securely.

Connected

Teleporting information relies on quantum entanglement, where two or more quantum particles form an “inseparable whole”, so that actions performed on one particle affect the other instantaneously, even if they are thousands of miles apart.

The sender and the receiver need to be in an “entangled” state before they can exchange information, and doing this requires a physical connection.

What was new about the step the Dutch scientists demonstrated is the fact that the sender and receiver were not directly connected. The sender, Alice, and the receiver, Charlie, both had a physical connection to Bob, the intermediary.

For this, Alice and Bob create an entangled state between their processors. Bob then stored his part of the entangled state. Next, Bob creates an entangled state with Charlie. A quantum mechanical “sleight of hand” is then performed. Bob sends the entanglement on, as it were, by carrying out a special measurement in his processor. Results: Alice and Charlie are now entangled, and the teleporter is ready to be used!

Not sending the information over the connection

The actual teleportation from Charlie to Alice can now take place. For that purpose, Charlie carries out a joint measurement with the message on his quantum processor and on his half of the entangled state (Alice has the other half). What happens is something that is possible only in the quantum world: As a result of this measurement, the information disappears on Charlie’s side and immediately appears on Alice’s side.

Alice carries out the relevant quantum operation for decrypting the quantum bit. After Alice has carried out the correct operation, the quantum information is suitable for further use. The teleportation has succeeded!

More research needed

While this was an important step in their research the scientist needs to solve several other problems before this technology is ready to replace the communication technology we use today.

One essential step for everyday use is finding a method to store the quantum information to be teleported while the entanglement is being created. Only then can the teleportation be carried out completely on request.

The network used in the demonstration is inside one building. Sending quantum information between these processors is not easy. One possibility is to send quantum bits using light particles but, due to the inevitable losses in glass fiber cables, especially over long distances, the light particles will very likely not reach their destination. As it is fundamentally impossible to simply copy quantum bits, the loss of a light particle means that the quantum information is irrecoverably lost.

In the lab, the researchers will focus on adding more quantum bits to their three-node network and on adding higher level software and hardware layers.

PhD student Matteo Pompili, who is part of the team working on this research, said:

“Once all the high-level control and interface layers for running the network have been developed, anybody will be able to write and run a network application without needing to understand how lasers and cryostats work. That is the end goal.”

For those interested in all the technical details, the full research paper was published in Nature.

The post Is quantum teleportation the future of secure communications? appeared first on Malwarebytes Labs.

Intuit released a warning about a phishing email being sent to its customers. The phishing emails tell recipients that their account has been put on hold, and try to trick users into “validating their account” to release it again.

Intuit

Intuit Inc. is an American business software company that specializes in financial software. Intuit’s products include the tax preparation application TurboTax, personal finance app Mint, the small business accounting program QuickBooks, the credit monitoring service Credit Karma, and email marketing platform Mailchimp.

The example email for this campaign claims to come from the QuickBooks Team.

The email

Intuit has recently received reports from customers that they have received emails similar to the one below. The email explains to the receiver that their account is temporarily on hold, and what they need to do to remediate that situation.

The email reads:

Dear Customer,

We’re writing to let you know that, after conducting a review of your business, we have been unable to verify some information on your account. For that reason, we have put a temporary hold on your account.

What you can do

If you believe that we’ve made a mistake, we’d like to remedy the situation as quickly as possible. To help us effectively revisit your account, please complete the below verification form:”

[large green button that is definitely not going to Intuit]

Once verification has been completed, we will re-view your account within 24-48 hours.

We’re sorry that we can no longer offer our services to you, and we wish you the best of luck with your business.

QuickBooks Support

The “Complete Verification” button in the phishing email will likely redirect recipients to a phishing site designed to harvest personal information, or infect victims with malware.

Needless to say, this email did not come from Intuit.

Intuit wants you to know that “the sender is not associated with Intuit, is not an authorized agent of Intuit, nor is their use of Intuit’s brands authorized by Intuit.”

Clues

Some details of the email are clues that you are not dealing with Intuit.

• The actual email address of the sender (vcn @ fucaxcapital[.]com) does not belong to Intuit.
• Hovering over the button would show you that it doesn’t got to an intuit.com URL.

Some details offer softer clues that you should be suspicious:

• Phishing emails want urgent action—this one wants you to act “as quickly as possible”.
• It’s unlikely that Intuit would address you “Dear Customer” in a case like this.
• Intuit normally asks you to sign in to its website rather than sending emails with clickable buttons.

What you really should do

In the security notice, Intuit advises customers who received one of these phishing messages not to click any embedded links or open any attachments. We suggest that you delete the suspicious email from your inbox, if you have it, to avoid falling into the trap at a later point.

QuickBooks users who have already opened attachments or clicked links after receiving one of these phishing emails should:

1. Change their passwords.
2. Delete any downloaded files immediately.
3. Scan their systems using an up-to-date anti-malware solution.

Businesses can find some more tips to deal with phishing attempts in our article Businesses: It’s time to implement an anti-phishing plan.

Stay safe, everyone!

The post Intuit phish says “we have put a temporary hold on your account” appeared first on Malwarebytes Labs.